1. U.S. Economy Is Slowing — But Consumers Are Still Spending
U.S. GDP grew at an annual pace of 1.5% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 2.1% in the first quarter.
One thing that’s getting a lot of attention: consumer spending is doing better than expected.
Keep in mind: GDP is backward-looking data.
2. Canada Is Playing the Waiting Game
A lot of noise around the trade war between the U.S. and Canada.
Canada announced retaliatory tariffs yesterday. Also, it seems Canada has decided that it will just wait Trump out. To do so, Canada is providing support to businesses and is likely going to borrow a bunch.
It is also very likely that President Trump is looking for some sort of win somewhere.
He has lost a significant amount of support, and his ratings on issues like trade, the economy and inflation have suffered severely.
3. Nvidia Has to Prove AI Is Still Good
Nvidia reports earnings today.
It almost seems like everyone wants the company to prove that AI is still good, and that Nvidia is going to be the champion of it.
There’s buzz about the “new asset class” Nvidia is trying to create.
Nvidia will likely beat, and very likely give super rosy guidance.
But be very careful. When hope becomes a strategy, there’s generally a lot of misallocation.
AI is here to stay, but valuations across the board need to be questioned. The rollout of AI needs to be questioned. The other side needs to be looked at – maybe things won’t be as fast as everything thinks it will be.
4. Gold, Oil & Copper Are Getting Interesting
Gold is selling off a little bit this morning as there’s some sort of deal being talked about around the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil is selling off a bit too on this news.
Copper this morning made a high of $6.77 and got sold off very quickly. We are watching this very closely. Copper has the potential to do something wild. Also, no tariff news.
Silver has lagged gold a bit. It hasn’t been able to cross above its 200-day moving average. There isn’t much excitement here yet.
5. Bitcoin, U.S. Housing & Japan
Bitcoin is getting choppy.
30-year mortgage rates in the U.S. hit a three-week high at 6.78%. Refinancing and new applications are falling. More evidence that the U.S. housing market is facing headwinds.
The Canadian dollar is losing a little bit of steam again today.
Japanese yen setting up to go lower? Yields on 10-year Japanese bonds are at 2.88%.